Province. Riding through the slippery snow-heaped alleys is not what
Europeans would think of, and our host with his usual courtesy
humoured the caprice by walking with us himself, preceded by six
_far[=a]shes_ (lit. carpet-spreaders) and followed by his purse-bearer
casting money to the poor, and a train of servants. The Citadel, or
Governor's residence, like all else, is forlorn, dirty, and ruinous in
its approaches, which are long vaulted corridors capable of much
adornment. Crowds of soldiers, _mollahs_, dervishes, and others were
there to see the visit, which was one of ceremony. The Palace and
Government offices are many-windowed, well-built brick-and-tile
buildings, arranged round a large _place_ with trees and fountains.
Two little fellows in scarlet uniform were at the entrance, and the
lobby upstairs was crowded with Persian and Negro servants, all in
high, black lambskin caps, tight black trousers, and tight coats with
full skirts. The Governor received us in a very large, lofty,
vacant-looking room, and shook hands. I never saw a human being more
nearly like an ape in appearance, and a loud giggle added to the
resemblance. This giggle and a fatuous manner are possibly assumed,
for he has the widespread reputation of being a very able man, shrewd
in business and officially rapacious, as was his father before him.
The grotesque figure, not more than five feet high, was dressed in a
black Astrakan cap, a coat of fine buff Russian kerseymere with full
skirts, and tight trousers of the same, and an under-coat of rich,
Kerman silk brocade, edged with costly fur. He made a few curt remarks
to his foreign guests, and then turned to Abdul Rahim, and discussed
local affairs for the remainder of a very long visit.
A table covered with exquisite-looking sweetmeats was produced, and we
were regaled with tea _a la Russe_ in Russian glasses, ice-cream, and
_gaz_. Then young, diminutive, raw-looking soldiers in scarlet coats
and scarlet trousers with blue stripes marched into the courtyard, and
stood disconsolately in the snow, and two bands brayed and shrieked
for an hour. Then _kalians_ were smoked, and coffee was handed round,
the cups being in gold filigree holders incrusted with turquoises.
This was the welcome signal for the termination of a very tedious
visit. The reception-room is a dismal combination of Persian and
European taste, invariably a failure. The carpets are magnificent, but
the curtains are common serge bordered with white cotton lace, and the
tea-table with its costly equipments was covered with a tawdry
cretonne cover, edged with some inferior black cotton lace. The lofty
walls of plain plaster of Paris have their simplicity destroyed by
some French girandoles with wax grapes hanging from them.
The Governor returned the visit to-day, arriving on horseback with
fully forty mounted attendants, and was received in a glass room on
the roof, furnished with divans, tables covered with beautiful
confectionery, and tea and coffee equipages. The conversation was as
local as yesterday, in spite of our host's courteous efforts to
include the strangers in it. The Governor asked if I were going to
Tihran to be _Hak[=i]m_ to the Shah's _haram_, which our host says is
the rumour in Kirmanshah! During such visits there are crowds of
attendants in the room all the time pouring out tea, filling
_kalians_, and washing cups on the floor, and as any guest may be a
spy and an enemy, the conversation is restricted to exaggerated
compliments and superficial remarks.
Everything is regulated by an elaborate code of etiquette, even the
compliments are meted out by rule, and to give a man more than he is
entitled to is understood to be intended as sarcasm. The number of
bows made by the entertainer, the distance he advances to meet his
guest, and the position in which he seats him are matters of careful
calculation, and the slightest mistake in any particular is liable to
be greatly resented by a superior.
The Persian is a most ceremonious being. Like the Japanese he is
trained from infancy to the etiquette of his class, and besides the
etiquette of class there is here the etiquette of religion, which is
far more strict than in Turkey, and yields only when there is daily
contact, as in the capital, between Moslems and Christians. Thus, a
Moslem will not accept refreshments from a Christian, and he will not
smoke a pipe after a Christian even if he is his guest, and of equal
or higher rank.
The custom is for a visitor, as in the case of the Governor, to
announce his visit previously, and he and his train are met, when he
is the superior, by a mounted servant of the recipient of the honour,
who precedes him to the door, where the servants are arranged
according to their rank, and the host waits to take his hand and lead
him to a seat. On entering the room a well-bred Persian knows at once
what place he ought to take, and it is rare for such a _fiasco_ as
that referred to in Luke xiv. 9 to occur. Refreshments and pipes are
served at regulated intervals, and the introduction of a third cup of
tea or coffee and a third _kalian_ is the signal for the guest to
retire. But it is necessary to ask and receive permission to do so,
and elaborate forms of speech regulated by the rank of the visitor are
used on the occasion. If he is of equal or superior rank, the host,
bowing profoundly, replies that he can have no other wish than that of
his guest, that the house has been purified by his presence, that the
announcement of the visit brought good luck to the house, that his
headache or toothache has been cured by his arrival, and these flowery
compliments escort the ordinary guest to the door, but if he be of
superior rank the host walks in advance to the foot of the stairs,
and repeats the compliments there.
The etiquette concerning pipes is most elaborate.[17] _Kalians_ are
invariably used among the rich. The great man brings his own, and his
own pipe-bearer. The _kalian_ is a water pipe, and whatever its form
the principle is the same, the smoke being conducted to the bottom of
a liberal supply of water, to be sucked up in bubbles through it with
a gurgling noise, as in the Indian "hubble-bubble." This water-holder
is decanter-shaped, of plain or cut glass, with a wide mouth; the
fire-holder, as in the case of the Governor's pipe, is often a work of
high art, in thin gold, chased, engraved, decorated with _repousse_
work, or incrusted with turquoises, or ornamented with rich enamel,
very costly, L40 or even L50 being paid by rich men for the decoration
of a single pipe-head. Between this and the water-holder is a wooden
tube about fourteen inches long, from one end of which an inner tube
passes to the bottom of the water. A hole in the side of the tube
admits the flexible smoking tube, more used in Turkey than in Persia,
or the wooden stem, about eighteen inches long. The fire-holder is
lined with clay and plaster of Paris. Besides these there is the
wind-guard, to prevent the fire from falling or becoming too hot,
usually of silver, with dependent silver chains, and four or six
silver or gold chains terminating in flat balls hang from the
fire-holder.
The _kalian_ is one of the greatest institutions of Persia. No man
stirs without it, and as its decoration gives an idea of a man's
social position, immense sums are lavished upon it, and the
pipe-bearer is a most important person. The lighting is troublesome,
and after all there seems "much ado about nothing," for a few whiffs
exhaust its capacities.
The tobacco, called _tumbaku_, which is smoked in _kalians_ is
exceptionally poisonous. It cannot be used the first year, and
improves with age, being preserved in bags sewn up in raw hide. Unless
it is moistened it produces alarming vertigo. When the _kalian_ is
required, about three-quarters of an ounce is moistened, squeezed like
a sponge, and packed in the fire-holder, and morsels of live charcoal,
if possible made from the root of the vine, are laid upon it and blown
into a strong flame. The pipe-bearer takes two or three draws, and
with an obeisance hands it with much solemnity to his master. Abdul
Rahim smokes three or four pipes every evening, and coffee served with
the last is the signal for his departure.
A guest, if he does not bring his own pipe and pipe-bearer has a
_kalian_ offered to him, but if the host be of higher rank any one but
an ignoramus refuses it till he has smoked first. If under such
circumstances a guest incautiously accepts it, he is invariably
mortified by seeing it sent into the ante-room to be cleaned and
refilled before his superior will smoke. If it be proper for him to
take it, he offers it in order of rank to all present, but takes good
care that none accept it till he has enjoyed it, after which the
attendant passes it round according to rank. In cases of only one
_kalian_ and several guests, they smoke in order of position, but each
one must pay the compliment of suggesting that some one else should
smoke before himself. The etiquette of smoking is most rigid. I heard
of a case here in which a _mollah_, who objected to smoke after a
European, offered it to one after he had smoked it himself--so gross a
piece of impertinence that the other called the pipe-bearer, saying,
"You can break that pipe to pieces, and burn the stick, I do not care
to smoke it," upon which the _mollah_, knowing that his violation of
etiquette merited this sharp rebuke, turned pale and replied, "You say
truly, I have eaten dirt."
The lower classes smoke a coarse Turkish tobacco, or a Persian mild
sort looking like whitish sawdust, which is merely the pounded leaf,
stalk, and stem. The pipe they use and carry in their girdles has a
small iron, brass, or clay head, and a straight cherry-wood stick,
with a very wide bore and no mouthpiece, and it is not placed in the
teeth but is merely held between the lips. Smoking seems a necessity
rather than a luxury in Persia, and is one of the great features of
social life.
Kirmanshah is famous for its "rugs," as carpets are called in this
country. There are from twenty-five to thirty kinds with their
specific names. Aniline dyes have gone far to ruin this manufacture,
but their import is now prohibited. A Persian would not look at the
carpets loosely woven and with long pile, which are made for the
European market, and are bought just now from the weavers at 13s. the
square yard. A carpet, according to Persian notions, must be of fast
colours, fine pile, scarcely longer than Utrecht velvet, and ready to
last at least a century. A rug can scarcely be said to have reached
its prime or artistic mellowness of tint till it has been "down" for
ten years. The permanence of the dyes is tested by rubbing the rug
with a wet cloth, when the worthless colours at once come off.
Among the real, good old Persian carpets there are very few patterns,
though colouring and borders vary considerably. A good carpet, if new,
is always stiff; the ends when doubled should meet evenly. There must
be no creases, or any signs on the wrong side of darning or
"fine-drawing" having been resorted to for taking out creases, and
there must be no blue in the white cotton finish at the ends. Carpets
with much white are prized, as the white becomes primrose, a colour
which wears well. Our host has given me a rug of the oldest Persian
pattern, on a white ground, very thin and fine. Large patterns and
thick wool are comparatively cheap. It is nearly impossible to say
what carpets sell at, for if one has been made by a family and poverty
presses, it may be sold much under value, or if it is a good one and
they can hold on they may force a carpet fancier to give a very high
price. From what Abdul Rahim says, the price varies from 13s. to 50s.
a square yard, the larger carpets, about fourteen feet by eight feet,
selling for L40.[18]
Abdul Rahim took me to see carpet-weaving, a process carried on in
houses, hovels, and tents by women and children. The "machinery" is
portable and marvellously simple, merely two upright beams fixed in
the floor, with a cross-beam near the top and bottom, round which the
stout cotton or woollen threads which are the basis of the carpet are
stretched. The wools are cut in short lengths and are knotted round
two threads, according to the pattern, which, however elaborate, the
weaver usually carries in her head. After a few inches have been woven
in this simple way the right side is combed and the superfluous length
cut off with rough scissors. Nothing can be more simple than the
process or more beautiful than the result. The vegetable dyes used are
soft and artistic, specially a madder red and the various shades of
indigo. A soft turquoise blue is much used, and an "olive green,"
supposed to be saffron and indigo. The dull, rich tints, even when
new, are quite beautiful. The women pursue this work chiefly in odds
and ends of time, and in some cases make it much of a pastime. Men
being present they were very closely veiled, and found great
difficulty in holding on the _chadars_ and knotting the wool at the
same time.
After taking tea in the pleasant upper room of the carpet-weaver's
house, we visited the large barracks and parade ground. The appearance
of the soldiers could not possibly impress a stranger favourably. They
looked nothing better than "dirty, slouching ragamuffins," slipshod,
in tattered and cast-off clothes of all sorts, on the verge of actual
mendicancy, bits of rusty uniform appearing here and there amongst
their cotton rags. The quarters are not bad. The rank and file get one
and a half pounds of bread daily and five rupees a month nominally,
but their pay is in arrears, and they eke it out by working at
different trades. These men had not been drilled for two months, and
were slovenly and unsoldierly to a degree, as men must be who have no
proper pay, rations, instruction, clothing, or equipments.
The courtesy of the host leaves nothing unthought of. In returning
from a long stroll round the city a wet place had to be crossed, and
when we reached it there were saddle-horses ready. On arriving at dusk
in the bazar several servants met us with lanterns. The lantern is an
important matter, as its size is supposed to indicate the position of
the wearer. The Persian lantern has a tin or iron top and bottom,
between which is a collapsible wired cylinder of waxed muslin. The
light from the candle burning inside is diffused and soft. Three feet
long and two feet wide is not an uncommon size. They are carried close
to the ground, illustrating "Thy Word is a lamp unto my path," and
none but the poor stir out after dark without a lantern-bearer in
front. Our lanterns, as befits the _Vakil's_ position, are very large.
There is something Biblical in the progress of Abdul Rahim through
the streets, always reminding me of "greetings in the market-place,"
and "doing alms to be seen of men,"--not that I think our kind host
sins in either direction. "Peace be with you," say the people, bending
low. "To you be peace," replies the Agha.
A wish having been expressed to visit the rock-sculptures of the
Takt-i-Bostan, a winter picnic was quietly arranged for the purpose.
There was a great snowstorm on the night we arrived, succeeded by
intense frost and clear blue skies,--glorious Canadian winter weather.
Outside the wall an English landau, brought in pieces from Baghdad,
awaited us, with four Arab horses, two of them ridden. There were
eleven outriders and some led horses, and a Turki pipe-bearer rode
alongside the carriage with two cylinders of leather containing
_kalians_ in place of holsters, on one side, behind a leather
water-bottle, and on the other a brazier of lighted charcoal hanging
by chains much below the horse's body. Another pipe-bearer lighted the
_kalian_ at intervals and handed it into the carriage to his master.
Some of the horsemen carried rifles and wore cartridge-belts.
Reaching the Karasu river we got out into deep mud, were ferried over
in a muddy box hauling on a rope, and drove to the Takt-i-Bostan,
where several tanks of clear water, a house built into the rock, a
number of Kurds on fine horses, the arched recesses in the rock which
contain the sculptures, and the magnificent range of the
Jabali-Besitun formed a very striking scene.
Sir H. Rawlinson considers these sculptures the finest in Persia, and
regards them as the work of Greek artists. The lower of the two
bas-reliefs at the back of the main recess is a colossal figure of a
king on horseback, "the staff of whose spear is as a weaver's beam."
On the sides of the recess, and, like the equestrian figure, in very
high relief and very much undercut, are scenes from the chase of a
most spirited description, representing a king and court mounted on
elephants, horses, and camels, hunting boars, stags, and other
animals, their enthusiasm in the pursuit being successfully conveyed
by the art of the sculptor. In the spandrels of the archway of the
main recess are carved, winged female figures. In the smaller arch,
also containing a bas-relief, is a Pehlevi inscription.[19]
There is a broad stone platform in front of the arch, below which
flows direct from the mountain a great volume of water, which
replenishes the tanks. The house, which also contains a tank fed by
the same living water, the mountain and its treasures, the tanks, and
some miles of avenues of willows, have been bought by the _Vakil_, and
his son laughingly says that he hopes to live to see a time when Cook
will give "tourist excursion tickets" by rail to the Takt-i-Bostan!
Coffee and _kalians_ were served to the Kurds in the arch, and
mounting the horses we rode to a country house belonging to our host
in the midst of large rose gardens, and with a wonderful view of the
magnificent Besitun range, of the rolling snowy hills on which
Kirmanshah and its plantations lay like a black splotch, and of this
noble plain, six miles long from north to south, and thirty from east
to west, its absolutely unbroken snow gleaming like satin, and shadows
lying upon it in pure blue. Many servants and a large fire awaited us
in that pleasant bungalow, as well as coffee and sweetmeats, and we
stayed there till the sinking sun flushed all the surrounding hills
with pink, and the gray twilight came on.
I rode a splendid Arab, with a neck "clothed with thunder," a horse
to make one feel young again, with his elastic stride and pride of
bearing, but indeed I "snatched a fearful joy," for the snow was
extremely slippery, and thirteen Arab horses in high condition
restrained to a foot's pace had belligerent views of their own,
tending to disconcert an unwary rider. We crossed the Karasu by a deep
and devious ford up to the girths, and had an exhilarating six miles'
ride by moonlight in keen frost, the powdery snow crackling under the
horses' feet. It was too slippery to enter the town on horseback, but
servants with lanterns awaited us at the gates and roaring fires and
dinner were ready here, after a delightful expedition.
I dined alone with our host, Hadji, who understands and speaks English
fairly well, acting as interpreter. Abdul Rahim at once plunged into
politics, and asked very many intelligent questions about English
politics and parties, the condition and housing of our working
classes, and then about my own family and occupations. He is a zealous
Moslem, and the pious phrases which sit so oddly on Hadji come very
naturally from his lips. In reply to a sketch of character which I
gave him he said: "What God does is good. He knows, we submit. He of
whom you speak laid up great treasure for another life. Whoso loves
and befriends the poor is acceptable to God. One day we shall know
all. God is good." He said he had been too busy to learn English, but
that he understands a great deal, and added, with a roguish gleam
lighting up his whole face, and a very funny laugh, "And I hear what
M---- says." He has seen but very few English ladies, and it shows
great quickness of apprehension that he should never fail in the
respectfulness and quiet courteous attentions which would be shown to
a lady by an English host.
Even after India, the quantity of servants employed in such a
household as this is very impressive. Besides a number who are with
the _Vakil_ in Tihran, there are the _nazr_ or steward, who under the
master is supreme, cooks and their assistants, table servants,
_far[=a]shes_, who are sweepers and message-runners, in any number,
pipe-bearers, coffee and ice-makers, plate-cleaners, washermen,
lamp-cleaners, who are also lantern-bearers, a head groom, with a
groom for each horse under him, and a number more, over forty in all,
receiving, if paid at the usual rate of wages in Kirmanshah, which is
a cheap place, from sixty _krans_ a month down to twenty, the _kran_
being now about 8d. These wages do not represent the actual gains of a
servant, for he is entitled to perquisites, which are chiefly in the
form of commissions on things bought and sold by his master, and which
are regarded as legitimate if they do not exceed 10 per cent. It is of
no use to fight again this "_modakel_," or to vex one's soul in any
way about it. Persians have to submit to it as well as Europeans.
Hadji has endeavoured to extract from 50 to 80 per cent on purchases
made by him for me, but this is thought an outrage.
This _modakel_ applies to all bargains. If a _charvadar_ (no longer a
_katirgi_) is hired, he has to pay one's servant 10 per cent on the
contract price. If I sell a horse, my servant holds out for a good
price, and takes his 10 per cent, and the same thing applies to a pair
of shoes, or a pound of tea, or a chicken, or a bottle of milk. The
system comes down from the highest quarters. The price paid by the
governor of a province to the Shah is but the Shah's _modakel_, and
when a governor farms the taxes for 60,000 _tumans_ and sells them for
80,000, the difference is his _modakel_, and so it goes on through all
official transactions and appointments, and is a fruitful source of
grinding oppression, and of inefficiency in the army and other
departments. The servant, poor fellow, may stop at 10 per cent, but
the Shah's servant may think himself generous if he hesitates at 50
per cent. I have heard it said that when the late Shah was dying he
said to the present sovereign: "If you would sit long upon the throne,
see that there is only one spoon among ten men," and that the system
represented by this speech is faithfully carried out.
I. L. B.
FOOTNOTES:
[15] I had the pleasure of seeing Agha Hassan at the British Legation
at Tihran. He is charming, both in appearance and manner, a specimen
of the highest type of Arab good breeding, with a courteous kindliness
and grace of manner, and is said to have made a very favourable
impression when he went to England lately to be made a C.M.G. Both
father and son wear the Arab dress, in plain colours but rich
materials, with very large white turbans of Damascus embroidery in
gold silk, and speak only Arabic and Persian.
[16] A journey of nine months in Persia, chiefly in the west and
north-west, convinced me that this aspect of ruin and decay is
universal.
[17] The reader curious as to this and other customs of modern Persia
should read Dr. Wills's book, _The Land of the Lion and the Sun_.
[18] A rug only eight feet by five feet was given me by a Persian in
Tihran, which was valued for duty at Erzerum at L3 the square yard,
with the option of selling it to the Custom-house at that price, which
implies that its value is from 70s. to 80s. per yard. It has a very
close pile, nearly as short and fine as velvet.
[19] For the Sasanian inscriptions, vide _Early Sasanian
Inscriptions_, by E. Thomas. The great work published by the French
Government, _Voyage en Perse_, Paris, 1851, by Messieurs Flandin et
Coste, contains elaborate and finely-executed representations of these
rock sculptures, which are mostly of the time of the later Sasanian
monarchs.
LETTER VI
KIRMANSHAH, _Feb. 2_.